Barbeque season has arrived! (at least in my neck of the woods). My mouth's been watering, and my husband has a strange gleam in his eye. It must be time!! I'd like to share one of our favorite chicken recipes with my loyal readers. It's an ancient Estrogen secret formula (not really) combining the sweet taste of barbeque sauce, the aroma of the charcoal mixed with wood, and the zip of an amazing jerk rub. Getting hungry? I am. So here we go.

The Chicken

* Use a whole chicken or buy whatever chicken pieces you prefer. I prefer using a chicken that still has its skin but this will work with skinless chicken as well. If you're using a whole chicken, you'll need to separate the breasts, wings, drumsticks, etc.

* Wash the chicken then pat dry with paper towels. You're about to make a mess so you'll probably want to put the chicken in a pan or on a platter with sides.

* Get your kids to help you make the chicken dance and talk. I'm totally serious, this is a requirement. The chicken will respond accordingly and enjoy its sacrifice.

The Estrogen Rub

I have to admit that I didn't come up with this completely by myself. The first time I tried this, I used a jamaican jerk seasoning recipe from a cookbook and ground the spices myself. The chicken was a complete hit. Now my husband is a chef and his ego just can't take it if his wife makes something better than he does (as a wife, I use his personality disorder to my advantage whenever I want him to make something for me. It goes like this, "Hubby, too bad my chicken fried steak was better than yours. Better luck next time!" Next thing I know, he's making chicken fried steak). Anyway, hubby went to Sam's and bought a huge container of premade jerk seasoning and we started playing with it. We ended up mixing my original recipe with the store-bought seasoning. Here's the recipe:

Combine 2 teaspoons sugar; 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme, crushed; 1 teaspoon ground allspice; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 1/2 to 1 teasponn ground red pepper; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg; and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves. Sprinkle mixture evenly over meat and rub it in with your fingers. This seasoning also works with pork or seafood. Makes enough for about 4 pounds of meat. Add it to about 1/2 cup of the premade seasoning and you can save the rest for your next chicken.

* Give your chicken a jerk massage. Your chicken will love it!! Cover the skin and the meat. Rub it everywhere. Then make sure you let your chicken talk and dance again so it'll do its job. Then pop it into the fridge while you get your grill ready.

Charcoal vs. Smoking

Chickens love to be smoked until the meat falls off their bones. Don't have a smoker? No problem! Throw some wood in your charcoal grill with a bit of charcoal and "Wala!!" Instant smoker! Just don't insult that beautiful chicken by using a gas grill!!

The Sweet Taste of Barbeque Sauce

We still haven't completed our chicken masterpiece. We're missing one very important addition. Barbeque sauce. Now my dear, sweet, loving husband makes his from scratch and unfortunately, won't even give me the recipe. Brat! So you'll have to choose your own favorite barbeque sauce. Any hickory variety will probably work best since you're smoking your meat. Make sure you let the chicken cook for awhile with the cover on to absorb the jerk seasoning, then start basting with your barbeque sauce. Remember not to baste during the last 10 minutes of cooking. The idea here is to slowly cook the chicken, sealing in the juices. When it's finished, you'll have a combination of tastes: sweet (bbq sauce), spice (jerk seasoning), and smoke (varies depending on the wood you use). Your chicken will have a little kick to it so be ready.

Recommended Sidedishes

Nothing. Seriously, anytime we try to add a side dish to our evening meal when we make this recipe, it sits on the table and gets cold. So why bother? Your chicken will be gone in about 10 minutes anyway. Enjoy it while it lasts. The world will not end if you skip the baked potato and the leafy veggies for one night.

Estrogen Tip

In our house, this chicken is called "Daddy Chicken." But my husband is a chef and we use all of our cutesy little terms to get him to cook more often. And he can take it. If your significant other doesn't respond well to this sort of thing, you may call this recipe "Jamaican Jerk Chicken." Have fun and check here often for more entries from the "Estrogen Kitchen."

**This is a selection from my newest blog titled TheEstrogenZone take a gander if you choose!